


Where Loyalty Lies

by AkiharabaAkira



Category: Tales of Berseria
Genre: F/M, Hope you read and like, I Tried
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-17 17:56:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14194500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkiharabaAkira/pseuds/AkiharabaAkira
Summary: When they begin to doubt their loyalty and question who it truly belongs to.





	Where Loyalty Lies

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I noticed that nobody has written about these two (I think) and decided to make one myself.
> 
> (Since this is the only pair that interested me to read about.)
> 
> Don't know if people will like it, but I hope you do!
> 
> In case it doesn't come off this way—this is only the start of a soon to be friendship, you know when someone interests you and want to be friends, like an impulse.
> 
> Just to let you know, some things may be off, I haven't played the game in awhile, so if I get something wrong, please tell me.
> 
> Lastly, this story does have multiple chapters, but for now I'll leave it as a One-Shot, unless you guys want to read more.
> 
> This story is supposed to follow the games story but with twists and my own take on it, of course you probably know that, but just in case.
> 
> Enjoy!

She was intriguing, Oscar thought as his gaze landed upon the young women entering the building.

Though he couldn't fathom why he thought so, it just naturally came to him.

Today was the induction ceremony for those who wished to join the Abbey and become exorcists. Thus it was a given that the young women was here for the induction.

The girl appeared to be about the same age as him. She had sparkling emerald eyes and silky red hair, tied into pigtails.

He didn't understand why his thoughts continued to pester him on the fact that the girl was rather interesting.

The words pretty and personable, kept annoyingly repeating in his head like a broken record.

Shaking his head softly, he turned away from the girl and turned towards his dearest sister: Teresa Linares.

Both she and Oscar were patiently waiting for the ceremony to begin, of course they both planned on joining the Abbey as well.

While awaiting for the ceremony to begin, Oscar decided to occupy his mind with watching the remaining guests enter the room, but once again, his eyes caught sight of the young women and suddenly his attention was solely on her.

He noticed that the girl stood at a lonesome corner of the room, a lachrymose expression on her face. Oscar's eyes narrowed in bewilderment.

Why would she feel saddened during a euphoric occasion such as this?

Shaking his head—to remove all thoughts of her—he decided that he didn't care what bothered her and removed his gaze from her. Though an annoying part of his brain continuously nagged him to find out.

Ignoring his nettlesome mind, he turned towards a man wearing a fancy uniform with long silver hair—who had just entered the room.

The man then proceeded towards the center of the room and locked eyes with every person in the room.

The man then cleared his throat, “I am, Artorius Collbrande, I welcome you all here today for this joyous event, in which means, you all will become exorcists. There will be an induction ceremony that all must partake in, lest they want to join.”

He then raised his left hand to swiftly show them what he wanted to showcase. Following his gesture, Oscar quickly noticed a table filled with glass cups and an oddly, strange, colored liquid inside it.

“You must all grab one of these Saleh’toma tea's, say a cheer, and drink it,” he explained.

After his explanation a horde of people began to crowd around the table, wanting to grab their own cup. Seeing as it was too crowded, Oscar decided to wait out until the crowd cleared up to grab his own cup.

Once the crowd of people began to die down, Oscar leisurely walked towards the table to grab his cup, but it seemed as if he wasn't the only one with the same idea. As soon as he reached out to grab the glass cup, another, more feminine hand, reached out to grab it as well.

Soon their fingers lightly grazed one another's and as quickly as they touched, they separated and retreated back towards their owners. Oscar then decided to glance at the said person and his eyes slightly widened in shock.

The person he had touched was the young women who had intrigued him ever since she arrived. Oscar then looked at her face and noticed an apologetic expression on her face.

“I am so sorry for trying to grab the cup. I didn't realize that someone else was also going after it,” she said as she looked at him.

Oscar shook his head, apologizing as well, “You're not the only one at fault. I too had yet to realize that someone had been searching for this cup as well. So I am also to blame.”

The girl smiled at him. “You can have the cup if you want,” she offered.

Being the gentleman that he was, declined her proposal, “No, you take the cup, I insist.”

The girl looked as if she was about to protest, but then she smiled warmly at him as she picked up the cup, accepting his proposal, rather than objecting. Oscar in return graced her with a rare small smile of his own.

“I am Eleanor, Eleanor Hume,” she said, politely introducing herself.

Eleanor, It was quite a nice name. Fitting for one such as herself, though of course, Oscar kept that to himself.

“Oscar. Oscar Dragonia,” he replied.

She smiled at him. “Well then, thank you Oscar, for the cup,” she thanked, while raising her cup slightly in the air and walked away, heading back to her spot.

Oscar, for a moment, watched her retreating form and quickly brought his attention back towards the table and grabbed two cups, one for himself and one for his sister.

Once Oscar made his way back beside his dear sister, he offered her one of the cups and waited until she took it. Satisfied, Oscar turned back to look at Artorius and noticed his arm raised, a glass cup held within it.

“For the Abbey!” he toasted.

“For the Abbey!” the rest of them cheered as everyone raised their glasses.

Soon everyone began drinking the contents of the cup and Oscar soon noticed how everyone began gagging as soon as they got a taste of the drink. Shocked, Oscar turned towards Eleanor to gauge her reaction towards the drink, and sure enough, she too was gagging at the horrifying drink, tears of disgust nearly forming at the corners of her eyes.

Oscar then turned towards Teresa, a blank expression on her face. Despite the fact that her glass was empty, she appeared unaffected. Eyeing his drink, Oscar gulped softly and hesitantly brought the cup to his lips and let the contents slide down his throat. Upon tasting the liquid, Oscar now understood why everyone was reacting the way they were, the drink tasted absolutely foul, a shudder threatened to go down his body. Oscar knew that no matter how much he detested the drink, he had to appear unaffected as to appear strong, but unfortunately, he could not hold back a grimace from appearing on his face. Oscar, here and now knew, that he never wanted to drink this ever again.

He turned his head slightly to look at his sister and noticed a disapproving look on her face. He knew that he was supposed to retain a strong image, to not show any weakness, but it seemed like the saleh’toma proved to be too much for him.

Continuing to try and hold in the gags, he waited till the taste began to fade away. He breathed in a small sigh of relief when he could no longer taste the revolting drink. Once recovered, he then glanced around the room as every occupant began rising steadily back on their feet, fully recovered from their excessive gagging.

After the effect of the drink had dissolved, everyone's attention returned back towards Artorius. “Congratulations, you are all now a member of the Abbey!”

Cheers reverberated throughout the spacious room. During the toast, Oscar had turned towards Eleanor and noticed a grande smile upon her face. Upon noticing her ecstatic smile, he too smiled as well.

Once the cheers died down, Artorius spoke up again, “Now then, the Uniforms will be distributed out to each of you, and as for Malak’s, one will be assigned to you tomorrow, when you come in for your duties. Now then, enjoy the rest of the festivities,” he finished explaining as he walked away.

Thus, the festivities began.

Oscar watched from the sidelines as everyone began to interact, dance, and eat with one another. Oscar wasn't exactly an interactive person so he preferred being alone, the company of his sister being the only exception.

As the hours flew by, Oscar's eyes wandered the crowd of people, unintentionally looking for a certain red headed girl, but he had no luck, he couldn't find her anywhere.

Oscar's eyes then landed on the door leading outdoors and wondered if she had went outside. Oscar then decided that he should go out and get some fresh air as well.

“Sister, is it alright if I can take a moment to step out and take a breather?” he asked as he turned towards his dearest sister.

Teresa eyed him suspiciously for a moment before responding, “You may go, but only for a few minutes, Oscar.”

Nodding his head, he thanked her and began making his way outdoors. Once he stood outside, he closed the door behind him and searched the clearing for Eleanor. Still not finding a trace of her anywhere, he wondered where she could have gone.

As he stood there lost in thought, Oscar suddenly remembered that there was a lake a few feet away from here, hidden behind a curtain of trees and decided that he should begin his search there. He then made way through the trees and towards the hidden lake.

And as soon as he walked a few feet into the plantation, he soon spotted the edges of the lake. Continuing in that direction as he neared the lake, he could hear a noise coming from that direction.

Pausing mid step, Oscar strained his hearing in puzzlement, trying to determine what was causing that noise, but to no avail, he could not tell what it was. So he continued trekking through the trail and as he finally reached the moonlight reflected lake, he heard the noise more clearly this time and determined that it was sobbing mixed with soft sniffling.

Startled, Oscar turned towards his left, where the noise was loudest, and saw the girl he had been looking for. Eleanor sat beside the lake bed, her head buried in between her knees, her body shaking as if she were crying. Alerted and concerned, Oscar quietly made his way towards the girl. Once he reached her, he kneeled down on one knee and placed one of his hands gently on her shoulder.

Feeling a sudden weight on her shoulder, he heard a startled gasp escape from her lips, and her head instantly shot up, her head turning towards him, her eyes widened as she caught sight of him and quickly began wiping her tears with the back side of her sleeves.

Oscar then used his free hand to gently grab her wrist, stopping her from wiping her tears away. She stiffened as she looked at him.

Oscar then seized the opportunity to analyze her face. Her eyes were puffy and red, glistening with held back tears, despair radiating off them; her lips quaked, threatening to let loose her desperate sobs. Oscar mentally frowned. He didn't like seeing her so upset, he much rather preferred her eyes shining brightly like the sunshine, as opposed to glistening sadly like the moonlight. Oscar looked directly into her eyes, sympathy shining from his emerald orbs.

“When grieving, you shouldn't hold the tears back, it only makes it worse, and if I may add, it is better to grieve in the comfort of another, rather than being by yourself. So if your alright with me, please let it all out.”

And as soon as the words processed through her mind, the tears began pouring out, streaming down her face and she immediately buried her head in between her knees again, her sobbing reverberated through his body, touching the core of his heart. His heart squeezed uncomfortably as he watched her cry. He didn't know what caused her sadness, but he wouldn't pry, no matter how curious he was, if she wanted him to know, then she would tell him, herself.

Oscar removed the hand around her wrist and sat down beside her, but he still kept his hand on her shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. He would stay here as long as she needed him.

Oscar then turned his gaze upon the lake, and waited till Eleanor was finished crying. As half an hour passed by, Oscar heard Eleanor's cries finally begin to die down, and as her cries finally ended, Oscar removed his hand from her shoulder and placed it back by his side. Eleanor then crawled towards the lake and wiped her tear stained face with the water and dried her face with the handkerchief that he handed to her.

Finally, she turned back towards him, a grateful smile plastered on her face as she handed him back his handkerchief.

“Thank you,” she said.

“What for?”

“For being here for me, even though we're strangers, and for not trying to pry.”

He gently smiled at her. “You're welcome, Eleanor. We may be strangers, but if someone needs my help, then I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make them happy.”

She then beamed at him, and Oscar couldn't help but feel happy and proud for helping her feel better. He always felt better about himself and satisfied whenever he could successfully help someone. After a few seconds of staring at her face, Oscar cleared his throat, stood up, dusted his clothes off and offered Eleanor a hand.

“Shall we head back inside, my lady?”

She giggled at his playfulness and grabbed his hand, “Yes we shall.”

He then pulled her up and offered her one of his arms, in response, she looped one of her arms around his and he then led her back to the front entrance of the building—right outside the door.

As they reached the double doors, Eleanor and Oscar separated as they faced each other.

“Well, I suppose one of us should go inside first and then the next one a few minutes afterwards,” he said as Eleanor nodded her head, agreeing with his plan. “I’ll wait here, you go inside first.”

Eleanor's eyebrows furrowed as she frowned. “No, you go inside, I was the one already out here in the first place.”

Oscar shook his head. “Please Eleanor, I can't leave you, a young lady outside at night by yourself. I know that you are most likely capable of taking care of yourself, but as a gentleman, please accept and go in,” he pleaded her.

Sighing, Eleanor caved and headed inside the building. Oscar then stepped to the side wall beside the door and waited till twenty minutes passed by, before heading in.

As the twenty minutes came up, Oscar pushed himself away from the wall and walked up towards the door, but as he was about to open the door, the doors suddenly slammed opened, only to see his sister's panicked face.

Her eyes soon landed on his and she frowned at him, her arms crossed, clearly she was not pleased. “I thought I told you a few minutes, Oscar, not an hour! I decided to give you the benefit of the doubt and wait on you, but you weren't coming back and I decided to come looking for you! You were beginning to worry me.”

Oscar casted his eyes towards the ground shamefully, he never meant to worry his sister. Shamefaced, Oscar apologized for worrying her, “My apologies, Sister, I never meant to worry you. I promise this will never happen again.”

She then sighed as she gave him a warm smile. “It is quite alright Oscar, so long as you are careful and keep to your words.”

“Yes, Sister, I will!”

“Well then, let's go back inside.” She then ushered him back inside.

Soon the ceremony ended and it was time to go, but before Oscar left, he wanted to greet Eleanor off. He searched the crowd for her, but failed to find her, but as the crowd began to thin out, he had finally managed to spot Eleanor heading out the door.

“Eleanor!” he called loudly.

Eleanor turned towards him as she heard her name being called out and paused as she waited for him to catch up.

Halting in front of her, he looked down at her, a questioning look on her face. “What is it Oscar?” she asked.

Suddenly feeling embarrassed at having boldly called out to her, he slightly flushed as he looked at her. “I just wanted to bid you farewell.”

Eleanor soon began giggling softly at his embarrassment. “Goodbye to you too Oscar, I’m sure we'll see each other again soon,” she said, waving him goodbye as she walked away.

Oscar stood where he was as he watched her walk away until she turned the corner and could no longer be seen. Oscar smiled softly to himself, he hoped to see her again and hopefully soon.


End file.
